Lucky and Unlucky

Lucky and Unlucky are two account-wide title tracks that together measure a player's luck in games of chance or in using lockpicks to open chests. Each title can be displayed at the "Honor" monument from tier 2 onwards.

The cheapest way to accumulate points is through the Boardwalk games; however, these are only open about 648 hours per year (i.e. seven days for Canthan New Year, fourteen days for Anniversary Celebration, and six days for Dragon Festival). Accordingly, it would take several years to max either title through these games alone.

The fastest way requires actively farming chests using lockpicks and the amount of time varies wildly with the type of chest and your retention bonus. Chest runs outside of Boreal Station would take roughly 400 hours for Lucky and 170 hours for Unlucky (assuming 50 chests per hour at a 50% retention rate).

The most efficient strategies attempt to maximize both titles together: every action designed to accumulate lucky points can progress the unlucky track and vice-versa, so some of your efforts (and cash) are wasted after you maximize the other.

Generally, you want to earn 5 lucky points for each unlucky one, since the maximums are 2.5 million and 0.5 million respectively.

Some players prefer to focus on the Lucky first because it has an in-game benefit. Afterward, they try to balance by earning enough Unlucky points to reach the 5:1 ratio again.

Over time, Nine Rings has a (roughly) 14:1 ratio in the corners, a 17:1 ratio on the sides, and a 21:1 ratio in the center.

Over time, Rings of Fortune has a (roughly) 3.3:1 ratio regardless of where you stand.

Lockpicks offer a 2:1 ratio if you have a 50% chance of retaining your lockpick. Your exact ratio will depend on the titles you have and the chests you open.

For Lucky points, it does not matter where you stand: you gain an average of 85 Lucky points every nine rounds. Since nine rounds cost 90 Tickets, you will always lose in the long term.

For Unlucky points, the corner rings are best, yielding an average of six unlucky points every nine rounds (the center rings offer only four).

For the Lucky title, Nine Rings is faster than Rings of Fortune, averaging 82,918 lucky points per 24 hour period compared to 16,620. It is also slightly cheaper, averaging 0.9444 points per Ticket compared to 0.9375.

Like the Nine Rings, Rings of Fortune can only be played when the Shing Jea Boardwalk is open.

Playing Rings of Fortune is the cheapest way to acquire Unlucky points: you lose an average of 4.5 games per ticket.

So to lose 500,000 games (and obtain rank 7 in the Unlucky title track), you'd need 111,111 tickets, which would cost 1667 . However, it is moderately slower than playing Nine Rings, and gains abysmally few Lucky points in the process.

Average number of lucky and unlucky title points per chest varies with the retention rate.

Lockpicks are always available, and picking any lock will increase your progress on either the lucky or unlucky title track: retained picks will earn 250 points of Lucky track progress; lost picks will give you 2.5 points for every 1% chance of retention.

If your retention rate is RR, on average, one chest will reward 250*RR Luckyor250 * RR * (1-RR) Unlucky at a cost of (1-RR) lockpicks.

For example, at the lowest possible RR of 10%, you have a 10% chance to earn 250 Lucky points and a 90% chance to earn 25 Unlucky points (25 = 250*10%), at an average cost of 1 125 (if you buy picks from other players).

The length-of-time formulas (at the top of the article) only apply when you're specifically hunting for chests. However, if interested in these title tracks, you should always open any nearby chests to reduce the number of hours you spend farming the title. (It also helps you earn points towards Treasure Hunter and Wisdom.)

During the Extra Luck weekly bonus, you earn double points when using lockpicks.

Comparison to Boardwalk games

On average, you can earn the same number of Lucky points by retaining a lockpick at RR=70% or playing Nine Rings for about 3 minutes (26.47 games).

Opening chests becomes more economical at an RR=86%. if you purchase discounted lockpicks at 1 250 , this drops to 83% even before taking into account the value of the loot.

Other statistics

You have to retain at least 10,000 lockpicks to maximize the Lucky title track (unless you play boardwalk games). (At an RR of 10%, you would probably retain 1,000 picks for 250 points each.)

Chests which require 50 keys reduce the cost to 4000 . However, (a) you lose any synergy with the Treasure Hunter title track and (b) the value of the loot will be limited.

The number of lockpicks required to max the Unlucky title track depends on the type of chests opened. The least amount of time would require opening 8,000 chests with a 50% retention rate, likely breaking 4,000 picks for 125 points each.

If a Four-Leaf Clover removes 15% of your Death Penalty, the user earns four points toward the Lucky title. However, this does not offer a meaningful tool to progress the title, as it would take over two stacks of clover to gain the same 250 points you could get from one retained lockpick.

The Finale is played similar to Nine Rings, just with lower stakes. During the 15 games of one Finale, you can acquire a total of 0 to 75 Lucky and 0 to 15 Unlucky points, making it an inefficient way to increase these titles.

For Lucky points, pick the center ring. For unlucky points, pick a corner.